Parents send their kids to Catholic school for many reasons. One simply might be because they can afford to; another might be the sense of knowing they are in a safe environment throughout the day.

How do you think parents would feel if they knew how unsafe their children might actually be?

Catholic schools are not required by law to have an automated external defibrillator (AED) - a life-saving machine that gives the heart an electric shock in cases of sudden cardiac arrest. This is called defibrillation and can save lives, And guess what. Your school might not have one on their premises. Yet AEDs are mandated in New York public schools.

Our children are in school about six hours each and every day, and that’s not including any extracurricular activities that take place after school. Do you know that it is actually safer for them to be in a mall than at school?

Why aren’t we protecting our greatest resources - our children? They deserve to be in a place where they will be safe and would receive the quickest life-saving action.

It is the school’s responsibility to protect students’ lives, as well as the lives of their faculty members, their staff and everyday visitors. So why aren’t they?

If there were a fire at the school, wouldn’t you expect a fire extinguisher to be on the premises to help put out the fire until the Fire Department arrives? If your child collapses during gym class or while eating their lunch, wouldn’t you want immediate action to take place before the ambulance gets there?

Do you know that it typically takes eight to 12 minutes for EMS to arrive? Every second counts. Every minute counts. When an AED is accessible, the survival rate increases.

Why wait for a tragedy? Because that is what usually happens - a tragedy occurs and then action takes place.

The solution is simple: Let’s equip Catholic schools with AEDs - where youth, among many other members of the community, congregate each and every day - before a tragedy strikes. It shouldn’t be a difficult thing to do; it just takes a willingness to make it happen.